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In March of 1977, I was just 22 years old (Okay, do the math, if you must). My friends and I regularly frequented a favorite music venue, now defunct, called The Bottom Line in NYC’s Greenwich Village. I can recall many a sleepy drive home to Queens in the wee hours through the Bowery in that white VW convertible after an exhilarating show, nary a soul in sight.

On this particular evening, we were introduced to an unknown artist by the name of Tom Petty, the opening act for a famous guy, that has seemingly slipped from memory. So I did a little digging through the archives, and lo and behold, it was none other than Mr. Roger McGuinn. Now how could this be? Forget Roger and remember somebody nobody knows? It seems Tom had made a lasting impression. But it wasn’t his music I remembered that night.

Music freaks of the ultimate kind, we always made sure to secure a good seat by being among the first to get to the doors in front of a long trailing line of attendees. It was always general admission and the club, being a small venue, ensured that no matter where you sat, you would get to see the performance all right. But we always managed to sit at a table directly in front of the stage. Luckily, that night, there were no beers yet purchased to spoil what happened next.

Well, out walks this scrawny blond guy setting up his equipment, and I remember thinking, who’s he? No one had ever heard of him before. Then suddenly, he topples the microphone stand directly on top of our table. How’s that for starters? Maybe it was opening night jitters.

I honestly don’t recall another single thing, not the music, not whether or not I liked him, not even poor old Roger McGuinn who I love and adore.

But right after that night, everybody, and I mean everyone, had heard of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. His career debuted and just took off. For whatever reason, I always remember him as the guy whose microphone stand fell on our table.

With the passing of Tom Petty, little did I realize how many wonderful songs were penned and performed by this amazing and gifted artist. What a long way we’ve come since those cherished and rebellious days of our youth. And to know that, even now, we can choose any song, anytime we please, and be catapulted back to that long ago era.

I’m right there. Center stage. Microphone stand crashing to the table. A blip in time forever encapsulated. A moment in Tom Petty’s life that everyone, even he, forgot. All…. except me.

Chris Cornell, lead singer and frontman of the grunge rock band, SoundGarden, hanged himself in his hotel room only hours after performing a concert on Wednesday night. Chris was 52 years old and seemingly “had it all” – more money than any one-person needs, fame, celebrity, friends, family, loved by family, loved by millions, super-talented and revered. What is going on??? Another suicide that just doesn’t seem to add up (to some ignorant people anyway).

Clinical depression is not something that’s “all in your head” nor is it something that you can just snap out of. The best book I’ve ever read on this subject was by the late William Styron titled ‘Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness”. This memoir in fewer than 200 pages encapsulated what it’s “like” to be clinically and suicidally depressed. Describing depression lucidly and in concrete terms is virtually impossible. Styron did an amazing job by teasing out the details metaphorically i.e. “like being in an overheated waiting room for eternity with no relief in sight…” …an unfathomable suffocating, choking and drowning feeling…” Simply the epitome of hopelessness, helplessness, futility and unspeakable FATIGUE + the horrible feeling of “I’m never ever going to escape this…all is lost. Everything is dark, lonely and ugly.

Check this out: 121 die by suicide each day and 93 of them are men. According to the CDC, most of the men are between the ages of 45 – 65 and an overwhelming number of the suicide victims are white (7 out of 10) and counterintuitively, many victims seem to be financially independent ($$ does not buy happiness). When people are struggling to eke out a living, they’re less likely to kill themselves.

Can you imagine the pain and agony Chris Cornell was in??? Stangling yourself to death!!! Could you do that? Even if you were stricken with a dreadful terminal disease like ALS, that way of offing yourself just doesn’t seem possible – at least to me anyway. So WhaDaYaThink? WhaDaYaThink? I hope you have found peace, Chris.

This is a documentary film about an extraordinary man’s struggle with terminal non-Hodgeon’s lymphoma. His name was Andy Whitfield and he was the star of the series ‘Spartacus’. After having achieved all this huge success at first as a male model and then an actor, he was diagnosed with this horrible stage 4 cancer at the age of 39. Andy Whitfield was a beautiful man both outside and inside; when you see the guy, your 1st reaction is “Damn, why do some guys get all the breaks in life ?”. I mean I don’t think you can get a more handsome man with chiseled facial features, stunning blue eyes and a perfect physique – 6-pack and all. And no I am not a gay man but yes even a heterosexual can’t help but admire this Adonis and say to themselves that lucky guy must get all the girls or anyone he wants.

This was an important film for me because of my own personal health issues. I know all the stages and the ups and downs, hopes and disappointments, strides and setbacks, the chronic agonizing pain…. Seeing this documentary has inspired me to be a better person, to only hope to be ½ the man Andy Whitfield was in every respect. In this film you see what a great husband he was, a father- so kind, loving and nurturing. Andy was as brave and courageous as a man can be and he never gave up hope right to the end. Not to mention his extraordinary intelligence, wit and charm. Watching this and seeing him fight through the chemo, radiation and alternative treatments I kept saying to myself – please God don’t let him die – please save him but it was not meant to be (spoiler alert – sorry)

The one scene that really tore my heart out was when Andy got the terrible news that after dozens of rounds of chemotherapy he wasn’t going to make it. Hearing the news, Andy didn’t cry or get angry, he just sat silent and then turned to his incredibly loyal and loving wife and said I LOVE YOU! Please see this movie – you can stream it off Netflix. It truly is a story about courage, love, resilience and everything that is beautiful in life. This life truly is a gift and Andy Whitfield has shown me in this film how to better spend the rest of my life, how to be a more loving person, to have more gratitude, and when the time comes to die like a man. RIP Andy Whitfield and as he said to his 2 beautiful children at the end – my body is broken like a butterfly with broken wings but I’ll always be with you – always.

How many mob/bad – guy movies can you watch before you say “enough – already !!!”

When I was a kid (I actually appreciated the film more as an adult, when I was able to understand everything) my favorite mafia movie of all time was ‘The Godfather’, directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1972. I was shocked beyond belief when the sequel, The Godfather Part II released 2 years later was actually (not by much, but still …) better !!! Al Pacino portraying the formerly sweet & nice guy who wanted nothing to do with the family (well, we knew it was coming at the end of Godfather I) and turned into the surprisingly, most – vicious – Machiavellian don one can imagine (another blog).

Anyway, I just recently watched ‘Good Fellas’ and it brought back memories of how GREAT that movie was. Wow !!! This film, ‘Good Fellas’ was made 24 years ago in 1990 and I can’t even begin to describe how powerful & how well this move has stood the test of time. Unlike the ‘Godfathers’ I & II (btw, Godfather III was a dog and perhaps one of the worst movies ever made) Good Fellas really sort of made you feel like you were right there with the BAD guys and what made it so intriguing was that it was so different from ‘The Godfather’. This film invited you to vicariously live the life of the “soldier” lifestyle of the Cosa Nostra. The Godfather’ films tried, and obviously succeeded, in portraying the mob as simply corporate America in which killing other human beings was just an occupational hazard.

I’m not going to elaborate too much, because I think everyone has seen the aforementioned films, but allow me to go back to memory lane and throw up some of my favorite ‘Good Fellas’ scenes.

So WhaDaYaThink ? What do you think ? Martin Scorsese has made some unspeakably great movies e.g. ‘Raging Bull’, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Cape Fear’, ‘The Aviator’, ‘The King of Comedy’ … & more, but the last few films have been major bombs. Is Marty done ???

Did you hear the jeering and booing when the image of Justin Bieber and his mother shown in attendance at the L.A. Clippers game was flashed on the big screen in the arena??? Wow!! Does Justin Bieber like this notoriety??? Is he a masochist who likes pain? What on earth is this kid thinking and doing?
The already ultra – super – charged crowd is still, I’m sure, reeling about the whole Donald Sterling affair, and I’m sure the last thing they want to see on the “Jumbotron” is this insolent, boldly rude, marginally – talented, 20 – something – year – old, snot – nosed billionaire with a baby – face and an over – the – top James Dean Haircut making snarky gestures. This “belieber” thing is just disturbing beyond words.

Believe it or not, on some level I feel sorry for Justin Bieber and am utterly shocked and appalled at what “his people” (or maybe Bieber is so “bad – ass” he just ignores the advice) are doing to his client. If your whole career is about being a rebel or a “shock – jock” like Howard Stern, then I could possibly understand this crazy behavior. However, the kid is supposed to be marketed, one would obviously assume, as an adorable cute little boy with millions of young girls singing along with his lyrics about young love.

But, maybe this is all a strategy….

So WhaDaYaThink ? What do you think ? We all know that he can’t be a pretty boy teen – idol forever (Hey we all know what happened to David Cassidy, Lief Garret, …etc.) So maybe Justin Bieber and his advisors are prepping him for his next gig in life i.e. a Mixed Martial Artist – lololololololol

Hey you may laugh, but all his friends are fighters e.g. Floyd Mayweather, Nate Diaz, Jon Jones …. Hey, he certainly has enough cash to get the best training in the world. Who knows, maybe Justin Bieber maybe the next MMA Champion.

Did you know that 99.9 % of comedians cannot stand (no pun) hearing themselves and worst yet, seeing themselves perform? Initially, I was shocked, but now I can totally understand the psychology of it all and how sensible it is. What kind of crazed narcissist would you have to be to like laughing at your own jokes?
We’re social animals, and the reality is that a stand – up comic needs an audience and some sort of positive feedback in order to really get the joy out of telling jokes. I’m pretty sure that any type of performance artist (actors, talk – show hosts, dancers, musicians … etc) for that matter, doesn’t like to see themselves on tape or whatever. My theory is that, the looser the format so to speak, the less inclined you’re likely to enjoy watching yourself. I suppose if you’re a classical pianist and you nail down Chopin note for note, I guess you can watch yourself and derive some sort of pleasure.
But, anyway, just to stick to comedians here in this blog, is it any wonder that comics are perhaps the saddest and most serious folks on the planet ??? I was informed of this when I was a kid and I used to think it was monumentally ironic, but is it ? Professional comedians ponder the absurd and write about it (the grim existentialist, Albert Camus, spent his entire career ruminating thoroughly and deeply on the absurdity of the human condition).

The oxymoronic “comedy is a serious business” prodigiously resonated with the late great George Carlin who wrote everything down and when he did his act (about an hour long or so) would not change a single word – I repeat, not a word !!! George used to say, once it’s in, it stays.
So WhaDaYaThink ? What do you think ? I’m not a particularly funny person myself, but I’m a HUGE fan of comics and comedy.

I still don’t get this film, but I’m nevertheless going to watch it again tonight for the third time. This is a prodigiously slow – moving motion picture (I don’t care, because the cinematography is breathtakingly beautiful – filmed mostly in Madrid and Seville, Spain) about a hit man given an assignment. The film is as cryptic and esoteric as it gets. Check out some of this dialogue or should I say monologue:

· “The universe has no center and no edges”

· “Reality is arbitrary”

· “Everything is subjective”

· “Use your imagination and your skills”

Right from the get – go you see an overhead shot of the “Lone Man” doing Tai – Chi in a stall in a public restroom at an airport. We learn quite quickly that this is not a mainstream movie and it’s going to perhaps require some thought i.e. a lot of thought (like I said, this is viewing #3 and I’m still not sure what’s going on …) Incidentally, the Lone Man (Issach De Bankole) always orders 2 espressos in separate cups. This we find out later is some sort of code along with matchboxes and a query about whether or not he can speak Spanish or not (yep, this is definitely a thought – provoking Jim Jarmusch film).

“As I descended into impassable rivers, I no longer felt guided by the ferryman … “ in other words (I think this is what this means) you are on your own in this world – in this life. This movie is so rich and has so much to offer if one has the patience. Yes, this movie moves at a snail’s pace but what an absolute masterpiece it is if viewed through the right lens. Incidentally, speaking of lenses, throughout the entire film you see many of the characters wearing sunglasses. What does this mean? I suspect that Mr. Jarmusch is having fun with some dark humor here –right? Of course, secret service men, bodyguards, etc. are always seen wearing sunglasses suggesting secrecy, but in this film, it’s purposefully exaggerated to create a surreal and farcical effect.

I’m not going to do a frame by frame analysis of this film (although I think this would be profoundly interesting and fun) and certainly I don’t think there is such a thing as a “spoiler” when it comes to this movie. What is the plot after all: A taciturn hit man is given a mission from enigmatic men to kill a certain powerful man, about whom we know absolutely nothing and for reasons the picture never reveals. Along the way the protagonist anti – hero meets very interesting and mysterious people who instruct him what to do in code and ultimately the mission is accomplished and the movie ends. Does this sound like a movie for you ?

So WhaDaYaThink ? What do you think ? I absolutely loved this film and if you are looking for something a little more than just the unfolding of a plot or story, then this is a must – see. I am leaving so much out including the sound production which is just first – rate e.g. the helicopter propeller blades juxtaposed with pigeon wings flapping is deliciously magical.

What is the deal with kiosk booths and the remote control helicopter (who knows, maybe the concept was the progenitor of drones – lol) ??? Or how about the glittery cell phone covers, other cheap flying junk & mechanical animals that walk around and make oink – oink sounds. I almost NEVER go to strip malls, but when I do, there they are … those independent booth owners hawking nauseating kitsch. My question is –DOES ANYONE BUY THIS STUFF ???

Sometimes the merchants will sell some sort of secret skin cream that will make you look 20 years younger and remove every wrinkle from your face. How about those inane vibrating chairs that some people sit in thinking that that they’re getting a massage. One of my favorites is the skin burning machine i.e. tanning booth. Sure you might get malignant melanoma, but at least you’ll have a nice tan – … uggh, we’re a strange species, indeed!!!

So WhaDaYaThink ? What do you think ? Everybody seems impressed with the miniature helicopter flying around the mall, but I personally have never seen a person actually buy one of those things.

Wow !!! It simply does not get any worse than this. I know Scorsese was just doing his dark humor thing: glamorize and satirize the bad guy – which he so masterfully accomplished with Henry Hill and the mafia with ‘Good Fellas’. However, Martin Scorsese released an absolute mess with his loosely – based biopic (same dark humor style) about the Wall Street tycoon, Jordan Belfort (Yep, the movie ‘The Boiler Room’ was also loosely based on Jordan Belfort), in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Martin Scorsese is a pint – sized 71 year old grown man who vicariously has had the amazing good fortune to make his want to – be, alter – ego come true on the big screen – you know what I’m talking about: small but powerful, handsome, ambitious, unspeakably rich, utterly fearless, misogynistic (why the marginalization of women ???) adolescent via commercial feature filmmaking. Martin Scorsese is a brilliant man who I suspect despises the fact that he is and has always been a frail, small man who could never, ever be in real life one of his anti – heroes for whom I truly believe he has this secret admiration and hence lives in his make – believe world of cinema. Marty sadly but perhaps fortuitously suffered from asthma as a child (Marty could never play with his friends and spent his childhood watching film – a curse and a blessing). Scorsese has always loved the rebels, and I earnestly suspect that he wanted to be one of those “bad guys. “Well, given his prodigious popularity in the make believe cinema world in which he now lives and with which he grew up, too sick to be a ‘wise guy’ (while his peers lived in the real world)… he can now be whomever he wants – that handsome, rich, powerful guy with the beautiful blonde by his side. Whatever the motivation behind any Martin Scorsese motion picture, one has to agree that he is a lover of film, unspeakably talented, a genius, and perhaps one of the greatest directors of our time, but, well, this movie was a bomb.
Okay to spin this movie in a positive light, one can say that, as outright ugly and disturbing as this film was, what Scorsese wanted to portray was a modern day Caligula, no holds barred. I suppose that on some level you can say that Wall Street seen in this picture is a microcosm of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. This is hedonism on steroids… debauchery to a nauseating degree (FOR 3 HOURS, how much can a person take watching 20 something millionaires doing drugs and having sex – BORING & STUPIDLY OVER THE TOP.
The motion picture begins with a make – believe commercial (now Marty is a ruthless Wall St. mogul instead of a Joe Pesci mafia hit man) and then quickly switches to a dwarf – tossing contest led by Martin’s new cinema darling, Leonardo Dicaprio (yep, Robert De Niro , you’ve been bumped). I personally could not believe my eyes … a brilliant film scholar and genius in Martin Scorsese, in some way giving validation suggesting that it’s funny or cool to throw around little people for money (Ummm, excuse me Mr. Scorsese, the Faustian Howard Stern already owns this domain). Well, hold on, I say… Martin Scorsese is short & maybe this is just satire and maybe this really happened (though Jordan Belfort claims it’s all B.S.) – right ? Ummm, hang on, the very next shot is Jordan (you know that’s Scorsese) snorting cocaine from a beautiful blonde woman’s rectum –– way over the top !!! I should have turned it off there, but I endured the whole 3 hours of Fu#@ing, drugs, and 20 something year olds behaving unspeakably badly and with way too much $$$ -UGGGGGH
Okay – fine, show the partying and excess, but for 3 HOURS and nothing else??? I mean, you may as well have watched, ‘Animal House’ – same stuff, only with a yacht and a lot of money. Hey and by the way, that Quaalude scene was as absurd as it gets (not true, and not funny). The movie in a nutshell is ‘Good Fellas’ (I mean DiCaprio’s voiceover sounded exactly like Ray Liotta’s, but on Wall Street) on super – charged drugs without any depth of character, plot, consequences, etc.
Yes, there were some powerful, gripping, profound and moving scenes (it is Marty after all, not unlike Woody, even the turkeys have @ least a scene or 2) but my question to Martin Scorsese, is why not touch on the repercussions of crazy behavior and excess; and why not dig deeper into the characters ?
So WhaDaYaThink ? What do you think ? I, personally, being a Scorsese fan, was offended and appalled by this piece of garbage of a movie. The films to watch are : 1. ‘Good Fellas’ 2. ‘Raging Bull’ 3. ‘Aviator’ 4. ‘Cape Fear’ 5.’ Taxi Driver’ 6. ‘The King of Comedy’ 7.’ After Hours’ & 8. ‘The Departed’ … ummm 8 films, not bad – lol….but don’t waste your time and $$$ on this one.
Btw, much to my dismay, a lot of the appalling stuff seen in the picture actually happened – it did??? (though, I personally don’t believe most of it) and if you YouTube Jordan Belfort, it is disturbing beyond comprehension, that such a less than intelligent person in Mr. Belfort could actually steal that much $$$ from real, legitimate businessmen.
Oh, and here is another FYI, though the motion picture was ultimately a success – grossing thus far over $389 million dollars on a $100 million dollar budget (aren’t those #’s in terms of $$ absolutely disturbing???) some folks who actually paid the $10 to see the movie when it was initially released, walked out and demanded a refund. I applaud those people and I want my time and money back too. Martin Scorsese is a 71 year old little boy who never grew up (literally and figuratively – lol) and never will!!! I would love to get your thoughts.

All right. I’m pretty much going to let the attached video speak for itself. Let me just say this….WOW!
This took place in…..where else…..the magical land of Ireland. Seems the fairies have been at it again causing this to go viral.
The usual wedding scene. And then shock waves…..
I love the sly smile. The way he transitions from ordinary clergyman into ROCK STAR and back to clergyman. Just goes to show…..never under estimate a man in a robe. Whatever our station in life, if you’ve a talent, for God’s sake, use it.
Watch Rev. Ray Kelly’s surprise gift to the stunned couple. I think he bears a slight resemblance to Eric Clapton, don’t you? Or has Eric had another side gig all this time?
Click on or cut and paste the link and enjoy!